The Daily Beast’s Asawin Suebsaeng showed an inordinate amount of favor for his fellow liberals in 80’s rock band R.E.M. when they told Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz to “Go F**k Themselves”
In fact, Suebsaeng’s first line in his not so objective article is “Memo to Donald Trump and Ted Cruz: Don’t f**k around with R.E.M.’s songs at your rallies.”
Does anyone remember the Reagan-Bush internment camps after the discovery of the AIDS virus? No?
Rolling Stone reported that former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe declared at a taping of a show for Viacom’s Logo channel that he was afraid to get an HIV test in the 1980s for fear of the right-wing oppression that would result. He waited five years out of progressive paranoia.
Network morning news programs showcase musicians all the time with concert series and the like, and sometimes musicians make political statements in between songs, as Bruce Springsteen did on the September 28 "Today" show. But usually those segments are fluffy revenue raisers meant to hook audiences with popular musical acts. The politics are notable for their general left-wing slant, but otherwise unconnected to the news reporting on the program or the network.